Many conditions may result in vehicle instability. Although most vehicles today include systems directed to reducing and/or controlling such instability, for certain vehicles, such as, for example, vehicles that include a solid rear axle and/or have a body-on-frame construction, vehicle axle tramp may still be a problem.
A drive axle (e.g., a rear axle) of a vehicle can experience vehicle axle tramp motion due to various forces caused by an undulating road surface, combined with the rotational energy of a propeller shaft, which may cause the axle to oscillate at or near to its natural frequency, as dictated by the inertias, spring components and shock absorber elements of the suspension system. In an axle tramp motion, the drive axle may, for example, rotate around an axis parallel to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle in a manner that causes springs on opposite sides of the vehicle to respond independently from one another, thereby resulting in a rolling oscillation of the vehicle that causes reduced or lost tire contact with the road, a condition which may be known as “vehicle skate.”
It may, therefore be desirable to provide devices and assemblies that may counteract vehicle skate.